Page 56 of Bulletproof Love

There’s no need to waste our time asking when we know he won’t tell us. Damon moves him every which way, using his binds for leverage. “I see something in his pocket. A bulge. Maybe it’s his wallet. Grab it while I hold him.”

“I don’t want to feel around this fucker’s bulge. I’ll hold him and you do it. And can we gag him while we’re at it? I’m sick of listening to him, he’s so unoriginal.”

Damon shoots me a look that says I’ll be the next one tied up with rope if I don’t do as he says.Kinky.Too bad I don’t swing that way, even for someone as dreamy as Damon.

“Fine. Just hold him still.” I kneel beside them, shove a dirty rag from the floor into his mouth, and reach into his pocket. “Yup, it’s a wallet.” Thank God, that’sallI felt.

Damon gestures his head toward it. I’m already on it. I flip the black leather open and find his ID. “Yuri Kozlov. There’s a Jersey address listed.” I rifle through the rest of the shit in there—a bank card, a gym membership, a photo of a young woman with light hair. “Who’s this, Yuri? She’s too pretty for you.”

He mumbles through the gag, his face red in the dim light.

“What was that? Can’t seem to hear you,” Damon taunts.

I pocket his ID and bank card, tossing the rest onto the floor. I bend again so I’m closer to his eye level. Keeping my voice calm, I ask, “What is this place, Yuri?”

Silly me, I forgot the gag. I yank it out and he wastes no time spitting in my face. That’s just nasty. He better not be carrying any diseases. Wiping my face with my sleeve, I grab my blade and bring it to his throat. “You forget that we killed all your friends without breaking a sweat. Now, I’ll ask again. What is this place?”

“Ask the whore. I’m sure she’ll tell you whatever you want while she spreads her legs.” Damon and I share a look. We know who he’s talking about.Mischa.

Now it’s Damon with murder in his eyes. “What did you do to her? To all of them?”

I inch my blade closer, smiling as blood beads from a sliver of his skin. “Answer him,” I seethe.

“You thinkI’mthe one who touched them?” He laughs, a harsh sound that settles in my skull. “He’d kill me if I so much as grazed a titty.”

I press harder. “Who would kill you?”

His eyes dart between us, a smirk playing on his lips. “If you don’t know already, you will soon enough. There’s no hiding from him. No escaping. He’ll kill everyone you’ve ever loved.” As his voice trails off, his gaze lands on the discarded picture on the floor.

“That room next door,” I say, growing more and more impatient by the second. “What went on in there?”

For a second, I almost think a flash of pain crosses his face. It’s too late—I have no pity, not for a man like him.

Honestly, maybe we’re better off not hearing the play by play. I’m already filled with more rage than I know what to do with.

Damon lets out a frustrated groan and I move my hand from Yuri’s throat. “He’s useless.” Which means it’s time to end him. “I’ll go prep the house.”

Damon lets the rope loose and Yuri sags like one of these old mattresses. I stand and toy with the locking mechanism on my blade, retracting it and releasing it with soft clicks.

“What are you going to do to me?” His voice is calm, matter-of-fact. He knows the end has come for him.

Do I believe that he never touched those girls? Does that make him less evil than the men who did?

“Give me something, Yuri, and I’ll make this quick.”

His eyes flick to the picture again and he sighs. “Orlov… he’s the one you want.”

I crouch, and meet his pained expression with my own hard one. “Something I don’t know.”

His eyes widen but he doesn’t ask how I know about Orlov. “Get it over with, then. I’m a dead man already.”

I stand, release my blade, and slice across his throat in one fluid motion. No need to drag it out. Yuri stopped being fun ten minutes ago.

He sputters for a moment, his body twitching while blood drains from his neck. I’m already out of that cesspool of a bedroom before he takes his final breath.

I find Damon in the kitchen holding two bottles of vodka. “Having a party without me?”

“Is he dead?”

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